Please plan on joining us tomorrow night for another DL Olympia Style discussion. The Place and time is the same as always: 7 pm at the Tumwater Valley Bar and Grill.
There is no formal topic tomorrow night, just a discussion of current - or past events. Whatever you find interesting!
Press Esc has a rundown on a number of articles that you might --or might not have read about in the past couple of weeks. Pick one and we will talk about it.
Let's see now....
The President proudly declares himself the "War President." However, the only institution in our country that has the power to declare war--Congress--has decline to do so.
Sure, they passed the "Patriot Act" but they haven't declared war. Now our "war president" is rallying the troops for yet another skirmish in Iran.
The fact of the matter is that the "War President" is merely a "War President" for political advantage. It's sad to think that more than half of the people in our country has fallen for it hook, line and sinker at one time or another. Let's hope they don't take the bait once again.
Metafilter has some interesting dialogue on the current Iran missives:
"Considering a war with Iran: A discussion paper on WMD in the Middle East" (PDF). A new study by two British scholars claims that the United States has the capacity for and may be prepared to launch a massive assault on Iran. This comes just in time for the post Labor Day product rollout.
Ah yes, the campaigning continues....but when exactly will the rubber hit the road? According to the article, Obama is sending the message that he is not a "yes man."
WASHINGTON - Democrat Barack Obama has a habit of telling interest groups what they don't want to hear, even at the risk of alienating audiences critical to the prospects of a presidential candidate.
Not to be undone by his rivals, the Illinois senator has made remarks befitting the myriad of forums and debates he's attended, praising the work of unions, upholding Israel to Jewish groups and decrying President Bush's spending on education.
It's always good to seek out the larger lesson behind a political scandal. So in this case, it seems to be, If you're a Republican and you want to misbehave sexually, make sure it's with a chick.
Late Update: Also, make sure you've got a Democratic governor.
--By Josh Marshall, TPM
Talking Points Memo | The Big Picture
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And this from Wikipedia:
Defining hypocrisy
Merriam-Webster defines hypocrisy as "a feigning to be what one is not or to believe what one does not."
Webster's New World Dictionary defines it thus: "A pretending to be what one is not, or to feel what one does not feel, especially a pretense of virtue, piety, etc." It defines hypocrite as follows: "a person who pretends to be what he is not, one who pretends to be better than he really is."
Since the root of the word comes from actors acting a part, the definition as laid out in dictionaries makes sense. It appears popular usage uses the word to mean something different from its dictionary definition.
Popularily, it is believed an act of hypocrisy has the aim to condemn another person or people, but not to condemn an act; when the critic makes verbal attacks or demands of punishment against perpetrators of the act that one practices oneself. The word hypocrisy is used to mean, simply put, the pot calling the kettle black. One is hard put to find dictionary support of that meaning.
Hypocrisy, then, consists of pretense, feigning, phoniness, being two-faced, insincerity. The theme of insincerity underlies the words of Jesus in the Christian Bible when he calls certain Pharisees to task for being hypocrites, i.e., insincere in their religious practices.
